Europe's top, Bundesliga fails miserably

Heidenheim Football Club was promoted to the Bundesliga in 2023 and qualified to participate in the UEFA Conference League in its first season. The Heidenheimers have won every game on the European stage so far. However, things are not going so smoothly for the league right now.

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For many Heidenheim fans, the past two seasons must have felt like a wonderful dream. First there was the sensational promotion to the Bundesliga. Just one year later, FCH qualified for European operations.

The current situation in the divisional league is also going well: in the first three games of the league stage, the Heidenheimer team has won every game, and the qualification for the knockout rounds can no longer be taken away from them.

Heidenheimer has a lot to celebrate so far in the Conference League.Image: trapezoid

However, things are not going well in the domestic league: Heidenheim have picked up just one point from their last five games in the Bundesliga, slipping to 14th place and will visit champions Bayer Leverkusen on Saturday. If the direct score falls behind Heidenheim, Baden-Württemberg will face the threat of relegation.

The task didn't get any easier after the game against Leverkusen. First, Heidenheimer faces Eintracht Frankfurt, currently ranked third, and a week later they will face current leader and record champion Bayern Munich. But Heidenheimer will almost have to pick up points in tough games if they don't want to be completely embroiled in a relegation battle.

A difficult second year

Despite a strong first season, FCH were often at the top of experts' lists of relegation candidates before the start of the new campaign. The additional burden of playing in Europe also plays a role that cannot be underestimated. Especially since Heidenheim does not have as much money as the big teams. Except for the two newly promoted teams St. Pauli and Kiel Holstein and the currently bottom-ranked Bochum, no club in the Bundesliga has a lower market value than Heidenheim.

In the Bundesliga, Heidenheimer can only advance from the bottom.Picture: www.imago-images.de

Additionally, Bundesliga newcomers traditionally have a difficult time in their second year. Opponents are now better prepared for last year's newcomers and know what to expect in their respective games. The departure of some key players in the summer did not make FCH's situation any better.

Significant long-term employee losses

One of them is attacker Jan-Niklas Best, who contributed 21 points last season and moved to Benfica Lisbon in the summer. New national team forward Tim Kleindienst, who scored twelve goals in the league last season, has joined Monchengladbach.

Heidenheim signed top talent Paul Wanna on loan from Bayern Munich. Aged just 18, Wanner recently turned down a call-up to the German national team because he was unsure whether he wanted to play for Austria.

Paul Wanner is loaned to Heidenheim by Bayern Munich.Picture: www.imago-images.de

Youngster Wanner has made an excellent start to the season and coach Frank Schmidt was full of praise for the midfielder:

Is the coaching legend hopeless?

Frank Schmidt has been on the sidelines of FC Heidenheim for more than seventeen years. In September 2007, when Baden-Württemberg was still in the top flight, Schmidt was appointed as the new coach. Two consecutive promotions were achieved in the first two seasons, so Heidenheim participated in the third division in the 2009/2010 season. After being promoted to the Bundesliga 2 in 2014, Heidenheim was rarely involved in relegation battles and achieved a historic promotion to the Bundesliga nine years later.

Frank Schmidt has been working on the sidelines of Heidenheim Football Club since 2007.Image: trapezoid

Further disappointing performances across the league raise the question: can Heidenheim afford to fire Frank Kramer? Probably not, as the club knows that, especially last season, they exceeded their expectations and the club is more likely to be fighting for relegation in the Bundesliga than in Europe.

If the negative phase in the Bundesliga does not stop, a decision similar to last year's could be made between Union Berlin and Urs Fischer. At the time, the long-time Union coach and the club mutually decided to end their partnership. The league had gone fourteen consecutive games without a win and was ultimately ranked bottom of the Bundesliga.

But Heidenheim FC without Frank Schmidt is unimaginable for many fans in this town on the Brenz river with a smaller population than Appenzell Outer Canton . No coach in German professional football has been with the club longer than 50-year-old Frank Schmidt, who is contracted until 2027.

Now the Bundesliga is facing tough games for the first time, with Heidenheim emerging as a clear outsider. But Heidenheim have delivered some surprises in recent years, so it wouldn't be surprising if Heidenheim picked up an extra point or two against the big names.